Rabat, Morocco's Capital

Heading to the train station in Tangiers, it seemed like the entire city was under construction. This included the station, itself as well as the tracks leading out of the city. As we progressed through neighbourhoods, suburbs and into the countryside, the construction continued. We later found out that Morocco is planning on putting in a bullet train and we had seen the preparations.

The amount of garbage along the tracks (almost entirely plastics) was truly stunning, and we discovered that Morocco only has a fledgling recycling program. We arrived at our station and met with our home exchange partners. They'd agreed to help us get settled in and show us the neighbourhood before departing the next day to Ecuador. We were treated to a lovely tajine (traditional Moroccan dish served in a ceramic dish with lid) for dinner.

In the morning we headed out to the tram which took us into the downtown core of Rabat. The capital had a different feel than Tangiers, with a less touristy feel. We went through the Medina several times during our stay and we're blissfully unmolested by vendors. (One man did offer Ron hashish, but that's not unusual.)

Rabat is mostly modern city, with lots of universities, offices and a shopping district to rival almost any capital. At the edge of the Medina is a huge cemetery that ate up so much sea view land that I was surprised that it hadn't been taken over for condo development. Unlike Tangiers, no one spoke Spanish and there was very little English spoken, either. This was the most challenging city linguistically, but we still got by.

Click the photo for a better look

One of the most interesting spots in the city is the Chellah, an old necropolis from the Phoenician period (1500 to 300 BC - give or take). It's essentially a royal burial tomb, heavily fortified and ornately decorated. Of course, others have used it since, but it finally fell into disuse after the Roman period. It is now a world heritage site.

Storks of the Chellah

We weren't able to see the King's palace, we were actually shooed away by a guard and failed to make it to the large mosque. We did visit the large Catholic church, which was conveniently close to an excellent restaurant called Ty Potes. (Pronounced almost like teapot.)

Goat cheese and smoked salmon salad

Near our house is a beautiful mosque that we took some time to peruse (from the outside). 

Mid-stay, we ventured off to Fez and before we knew it our time in Rabat was done and we were headed off to raucous Marrakesh.